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North Texas U.S. Marshals arrested a 21-year-old man in Grand Prairie Sunday morning in connection to a triple homicide in east Oak Cliff.
Police said Justin Pharez Smith admitted to police to participating in the shooting. (Published Sunday, Aug 3, 2014)

Updated at 10:01 AM EST on Monday, Aug 4, 2014

North Texas U.S. Marshals arrested a 21-year-old man in Grand Prairie Sunday morning in connection to a triple homicide Saturday in east Oak Cliff.

Police said Justin Pharez Smith admitted to police to participating in the shooting.

“We were certainly concerned that Smith’s actions were an imminent danger to this community and he would probably take other lives if we did not get him into custody,” said Major Jeff Cotner, with the Dallas Police Department.

Police said Smith got into a confrontation with two other witnesses outside the home. He allegedly hit one of them intentionally with a car as he was driving away from the murder scene.

Police found evidence that drugs were being sold from the home and they believe the shooting might be drug related.

Witnesses were able to identify Smith and police found a gun and clothes that he hid at his mother’s home in Arlington. They said after he left his mother’s home, he went to get a haircut and then hid at a friend's house in Grand Prairie where he was arrested Sunday morning.

Police said Smith came to North Texas often, but is a resident in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Smith is a current or recent student at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and is also associated with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, according the organization’s website.

In video posted on YouTube in May, Smith talks with a faculty member of UAPF about black men going to prison.

“What are some of the reasons you think we have some many young African-American males going to prison?” Rev. Dr. Anthony Hobbs Sr. asked in the video.